First Evidence of Powassan Virus (Flaviviridae) in Ixodes Scapularis in Appalachian Virginia, USA

Here we report the first detection and confirmation of Powassan virus (POWV) (family: Flaviridae) in Ixodes scapularis ticks collected from Appalachian Virginia. Ixodes scapularis ticks were collected from vegetation across field sites in eight counties of western Virginia from June 2019 to April 2021. From these collections, one nymph and one adult male I. scapularis were determined to be positive for POWV using real-time RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing. Both positive ticks were collected from Floyd county, VA, at residential sites; the nymph in June 2020 and the adult male in April 2021. The presence of POWV in Virginia in its natural tick vector is crucial knowledge in beginning to understand the movement and transmission of this pathogen into new geographical areas and the risk it poses to medical and veterinary health.

Taxonomy and biostratigraphic significance of some Middle Cambrian trilobites from the Conasauga Formation in western Georgia

Biostratigraphic correlations of the Conasauga Formation in the southern Appalachians have been hindered by unreliable trilobite taxonomy. New fossil collections and re-examination of type specimens allow revision or confirmation of assignments for several Middle Cambrian trilobite taxa. These revisions reveal sufficient relationships with trilobites outside the region to place fossiliferous strata in Floyd County, Georgia, into the Oryctocephalus and Bolaspidella assemblage zones of the Middle Cambrian section defined for the Great Basin.Trilobite taxa considered are: (Agnostida) Baltagnostus centerensis (Resser, 1938) and Peronopsis cf. P. cuneifera (Barrande, 1846); (Ptychopariida) Alokistocare americanum (Walcott, 1916), Elrathia antiquata (Salter, 1859), Asaphiscus gregarius Walcott, 1916, and Glyphaspis cf. G. capella (Walcott, 1916).